It's my thinking, and I've been wrong before, that 99% of readers here do not alter their sound via tone controls on their AVR.

However, I don't have a problem adjusting tone controls if I'm using a weak stereo/radio in a rental car or similar.

+1.

Tone controls are for the past. Today's modern AVRs are all about room correction software EQing the whole audible frequency range to FLAT!!!

When I was shopping around for my Denon I was also looking for the treble and bass knobs like an old school guy. Even though my Denon also has tone controls (via menu, no knobs), but I prefer Audyssey. When I select tone control from the menu Audyssey turns off. I and my ears vote for Audyssey!!

Tone controls have a specific purpose..
They provide a simple means for the user to compensate for the tonal balance from a source or program that may have a weakness in its frequency response....

For example, a couple of use cases are..A. Some early music recordings were bass heavy...
Rather than readjusting the Room EQ an EZ fix is to cut the bass control a notch or 2..B. FM station's frequency response is high frequency limited, so it may sound too dull..
Rather than readjusting the Room EQ an EZ fix is to boost up the treble control a notch or 2..

SUMMARY
The Room EQ scheme is for achieving a total proper tonal balance between the Room and loudspeakers, while the tone controls provide a simple means for tweaking the tonal balance differences between sources and program content..

Hi htcritic, care to expand a bit on those "benefits"? Analog sources run through an AD converter inside the AVR and get EQ'd/bass managed, etc. equally, don't they?

It's called direct bypass for a reason. One reason is that it bypasses EQ so does not get bass managed and eq'd. At least not in my AVR. But then you already knew that right?

Mcode's response was great. On most of my old vinyl I use tone controls quite a bit. Of course I use direct bypass for that source so I I enable tone controls for that source but disable tone controls for sources that have applied DSP's.

J Dunlavy:.. if you stop to think about it, no loudspeaker can sound more accurate than it measures ...